Alleged perpetrator of attack on synagogue in south of France arrested | International

The alleged perpetrator of Saturday’s attack on a synagogue in the south of France was arrested on Saturday night in the city of Nimes, about 50 kilometers from the scene, according to the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT). According to a statement by the prosecutor’s office on Sunday morning, the suspect opened fire on approaching police officers, who responded, and the detained man was “wounded in the face”. Local media reported that the detained man is a 33-year-old man of Algerian nationality. Two other people close to him were also arrested, while the investigation into the preparation of the attack and the subsequent escape of the perpetrator continues, the same source said in his statement.

The attack on the Beth Yaakov synagogue in La Grand Motte, a small tourist town on the Mediterranean coast next to Montpellier, took place on Saturday morning. Two vehicles parked near the temple were set on fire. The prosecutor’s office specified on Sunday that a gas bottle, which was initially reported to be inside a car, was located near one of them.

The perpetrator also set fire to two doors of the temple, where five people were at the time. One of the explosions injured a municipal police officer, although not seriously. French authorities immediately launched a large police operation in search of the alleged perpetrator, helped by images from the synagogue’s security cameras showing a man with a gun on his waistband and a Palestinian flag.

The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office announced shortly after that it had taken over the investigation on three charges: attempted murder, destruction by dangerous means and collaboration with criminals, all with terrorist motivations. Acting Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin later assured that the fire was “clearly criminal” and the government ordered increased police surveillance around synagogues and Jewish cultural centers. The entire French political class immediately condemned the attack and anti-Semitism. President Emmanuel Macron said, “The fight against anti-Semitism is a constant fight, a fight of a united nation.”

Further attacks since 7 October

Jewish temples in France have strengthened their security since the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas began in the Gaza Strip on October 7. For several months, the government has been repeating that the conflict in Gaza has worsened anti-Semitic acts in the country. Last May, police killed a man who set fire to a synagogue in Rouen, although the act was not classified as terrorist. The attack was condemned by authorities and citizens, who gathered in several cities across the country to show their support for the Jewish community.

The executive has counted 887 anti-Semitic acts in the first half of 2024, almost three times more than in the same period of 2023. Authorities fear that tensions in the Middle East will transfer to France, a country with the largest Jewish community and Muslims in Europe.

The political class has unanimously condemned the attack, which came just two days before the start of the Paris Paralympic Games and at a time when negotiations were underway to appoint a prime minister. France has had a government in place since the second round of early legislative elections on July 7.

In a message on social networks, the mayor of La Grande-Motte, Stéphane Rossignol, said on his X account that it was “an attack directed against the Jewish community.” Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (French acronym CRIF), expressed the same sentiment: “It is an attempt to murder Jews.”

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the radical left-wing party France Insoumise, has been one of the first to respond. His words in one message have come under particular scrutiny, after he received strong criticism in June for saying that anti-Semitism was “residual” in France. Some party leaders have also been accused of promoting anti-Semitism to gain votes from French people of Arab descent. The party denies this.

“These unacceptable and inexplicable attacks are the result of a rise in anti-Semitism that is spreading throughout our country,” Marine Le Pen, of the far-right National Rally party (RN), wrote in X.

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